General Index

Welcome to Seasonal Gardening

Seasonal Gardening provides a month by month account of tasks that need to be done in the garden. Our free online guide is packed with hints, tips, helpful projects and useful gardening ideas for every season.

March Gardening Tasks

Rake lawns to remove winter debris and feed with a feed-and-weed mixture. Spring prune trees and shrubs such as roses. Sow seeds of biennial and perennial plants. Lift and divide clump forming perennials, such as Geum, hardy geraniums and Phlox. Get a head start by take cuttings of Dahlias and fuchsias in a heated propagator at the end of the month.

Start sowing early vegetables such as lettuce, leeks, parsnips, early carrots, broad beans and peas as soon as the soil is warm and workable. Plant early potatoes at the end of the month in warm areas.

Mothering Sunday

Don't forget Mother's Day this month. An ideal opportunity
to treat your mother to a trip to a spring garden or
to a lovely bunch of spring flowers.

Have your plants survived the winter months?

Temperatures in the South, East and Midlands area
of the UK have been very cold this month, and temperatures
have been even lower in the north.

The cold snap may have done serious damage to many
less hardy species such as tree ferns, palms, yuccas,
cordylines and semi-tender shrubs. So how can you
tell if plants have survived? this can be difficult
especially with woody shrubs. Plants that produce
growth from a crown such as palms are unlikely to
regrow if the tip has gone soft and mushy. The rootstock
of many tender plants and shrubs can still regenerate
even if the top growth has withered so give them
until mid-summer to be sure before digging them up.
You can check shrubs by scrapping of a little of
the bark, if its green then the heart wood is fine,
if brown, then the plant is likely to be dead. Some
shrubs can even bud from old wood but if there is
no sign of life by late summer it is likely they
have perished.

It is also very likely, due to the very wet conditions
this year, that tender bulbs and corms left in the
ground over-winter, such as dahlias gladioli and
Agapanthus, may have suffered from water logging,
which can cause the bulbs to rot.

Plant of the Month

Anemones are simple to grow and naturalize easily. These dainty little flowers appear as if by magic under trees and shrubs in early spring. They lie dormant in summer and autumn so adapt well to dry conditions under trees.